04-27-2005, 10:12 PM
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]PORTLAND, OR—Washington and Oregon fisheries officials recently closed the Columbia River to fishing to protect a troubled run of endangered spring chinook salmon. [/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]The closure took effect April 21 and includes the entire main-stem river below McNary Dam down to the Columbia's mouth. Although it prohibits steelhead and shad fishing, the closure does not apply to hatchery chinook fishing in Columbia River tributaries.[/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]A spring run of approximately 229,000 chinooks had been predicted by fisheries biologists at Bonneville Dam, but as of last Tuesday, near the usual midpoint of the spring run, only 200 had been counted. [/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]Brian Gorman of the Pacific Marine Fisheries Service told The Associated Press that no one knows why the chinook run is late, including the scientists he's talked to. [/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]Some biologists suspect low water levels caused by the dry winter could be the reason. Despite the initial low run, biologists say they're optimistic salmon gathering at the mouth of the Columbia waiting for a biological trigger to send them up.[/size][/font]
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[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]The closure took effect April 21 and includes the entire main-stem river below McNary Dam down to the Columbia's mouth. Although it prohibits steelhead and shad fishing, the closure does not apply to hatchery chinook fishing in Columbia River tributaries.[/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]A spring run of approximately 229,000 chinooks had been predicted by fisheries biologists at Bonneville Dam, but as of last Tuesday, near the usual midpoint of the spring run, only 200 had been counted. [/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]Brian Gorman of the Pacific Marine Fisheries Service told The Associated Press that no one knows why the chinook run is late, including the scientists he's talked to. [/size][/font]
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]Some biologists suspect low water levels caused by the dry winter could be the reason. Despite the initial low run, biologists say they're optimistic salmon gathering at the mouth of the Columbia waiting for a biological trigger to send them up.[/size][/font]
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